A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Thankfully, the automated system sent another notification. I had sort of assumed my credit card information was on file. Yet, I did have to log on to my website service provider and renew my yearly domain registration fee. For the first few years, I believe it was included with the hosting. Now, I pay the annual fee that comes to less than $1 per month including taxes. What a bargain, eh?

I would have to go do a check to find out when I first set up DennisSylvesterHurd.com. It has been a while, I know. In a way similar to an old movie star, if a domain simply exists for a long enough time, then it receives respect and traffic.

This is related to a topic I wanted to mention. The folks have added an important feature to the software at blogger.com. We can now write an entry and save it with a specific time for publication. The system automatically adds the entry to one's blog when that date and hour occur. This will be important during my vacation. I want to keep a little activity at the blog even if I'm saving my entries for later posting.

The search engines value change over quality when picking how often to return for updates. If the information at any website appears dormant, the little googlebots and their ilk, decide not to stop by nearly as often. That's something I simply cannot allow.

Labels: blogging, Google, Internet

The whole concept of YouTube has never excited me much. I mean I enjoy the opportunity of adding clips to this blog, but who'd want to sit for an hour and simply watch the stupid things that other people do? If I'm going to give up a half hour or more of my life watching a screen, I want what's on it to be professionally produced.

Luckily, it appears as if broadcasters are adapting to the new potential of the Net. It all deals with people not wanting to have to bend to someone else's schedule. With Tivo and other digital recorders, the idea of having to be home in order to not miss a show already seems like a quaint anachronism. I don't think most of us are going to be ready for high-definition Internet streaming for a while. Many other countries are better suited for fast, universal Internet access. In the Americas, we must contend with our vast geography and dispersed population.

I like NBC's 30 Rock. Satire is hard to pull off but this show seems to do it with ease. I sometimes give credit to the network for allowing so many sarcastic, and often self-critical references. Here Tina Fey takes on reality TV and cuts a little close to CBS's Survivor. Watch all 22 minutes of it now on Hulu.



If you're not in the US, try loading Hotspot Shield first. The program allows you to VPN to a US-based IP. It is easy to start and stop and a whole lot easier than messing around with permanent configuration on your computer. You only need to run it when you need to appear to be in the United States.

Labels: Hulu, humour, Internet, television

Today's picture is not new to the blog. In fact it was first published on November 1, 2005.

At the time, I mentioned that I had earnestly started to scan some old photographs for Flickr. The picture to the right was taken during my time in Taif, Saudi Arabia. On an outing one weekend, which occur on Thursday and Friday there, we used to venture around the mountain city. These boys were playing in a rural neighbourhood. In the very conservative parts of the Kingdom, taking photographs of people was frowned upon. Still, these kids were very happy to be the center of attention. This picture was mostly likely taken in 1985, so 23 years later I never again expected to hear about them.

I'm only including a re-posting of the photo because of this very interesting email that I received yesterday:

I was searching for Taif City on the Internet, accidentally arrived to your web site and luckily and I saw the photo of the two kids from Taif, there are my cousins, the kid on the right side of the photo is now a high school teacher and the other on the left of the photo, now he is Saudi Airlines Employee and the area where you have took the photo it is my home point in Taif. I have sent the photo to the two guys, they remember it and they were so happy. The two guys are married and both have kids.

Best Regards,
Abdullatif Al-Fageeh

Labels: Flickr, Internet, Saudi Arabia, sharing

I'm going to think of it as a very expensive remote. I am not a game player, but my Sony PS3 just seemed to cry out for some company. I use the PlayStation 3 to play Blu-ray discs and increasingly as a media server. Its name on my home network is The Black Box.

I read something about how a PlayStation Portable (PSP) can be used to access its larger stationery cousin. I had sort of fallen in love with Sony's XrossMediaBar. The XMB is just a simple graphical interface on these devices. I wanted to see it on a smaller screen too.



So I ran to the Superstore and bought a PSP. Imagine, I'm not even that keen on games! I did, however, have to pick up a $20 copy of Daxter just so I could see a real example of the neat little proprietary-format optical disc. Sony tried hard to sell movies in that format but it never took wings. I will never buy a film on one as I can rip a DVD into mpeg4 file. I sure wish I hadn't needed to also pick up another of Sony's other proprietary inventions, the Memory Stick. I already have enough SD memory around the house.

I love the device as it's wifi capable. I went down to an unsecured network connection on the first floor of our building and turned on my PS3 from there. I was able to listen to an MP3 file on my computer's external hard drive. I can have my whole 40GB music collection whereever there's a wifi connection. It wasn't too long ago that I rambled on in one of my so called Furturecasts about my ideas of networking in the future. It has already happened.

Labels: Internet, PS3, PSP, sharing

My new class doesn't start until next Monday. After last week's weird and wacky weather, things really started to look up today. In retrospect, even though it's only six o'clock, I cannot believe I spent so much time in front of this screen. I suppose I have to come to terms with the fact, I'm rather addicted to computers. As I'll be turning 49 years old in July, you'd think I would know myself well by now.

I guess it really wasn't a surprise to realize I am fascinated with PCs. I first spent hard-earned cash on a Radio Shack TRS-80 in 1980. The tasks I was able to do in those days weren't very inspiring by today's standards. I recall making a simple BASIC program that simply added one plus one and showed the result on the black and white screen. Then, it would add one more and print again. I let it run overnight and I couldn't believe the device had made it into the hundreds of thousands by morning.

Technology marches on. Today, I was playing with my computer, network, and PS3. I was using TVersity to make my PS3 into a media server. I downloaded video from the Internet through a BitTorrent. Moving around 600 megabyte files is probably something I wouldn't have thought possible when my Radio Shack had 16K of RAM. The fact most of these files were destined for a 16x9 format 42" LCD television screen, would've undoubtedly sounded like science fiction too.

Here's my belated tribute to the recently deceased futurist who lived his last fifty years in Sri Lanka:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-- Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)
Profiles of The Future, 1961

This show is not a video file. It's a live program streamed through
the net from a Sri Lankan TV network to this aparment in
New Westminster, BC.

Labels: computers, Internet, PS3, sci-fi, Sri Lanka 2006, television

I get excited by the potenital but frustrated by the implementation. Let's say I have a file I wish to share with the world. Imagine there are 100,000 people out there who may be interested in it. Rather than having those 100,000 come directly to download from me, I'd rather they all run some specialized software. Then, as soon as a few get the download or even a partial copy, the other 999,998 could start relying on them too. If, by chance, everyone wanted a copy at the same moment, then we could all both download and upload the missing bits simultaneously. Most assuredly some copies would be closer to another recipient than my original copy. In fact, a neighbour on the same ISP might push along the data to them at breakneck speeds. That's the theory, at least.

Even our public broadcaster is trying out distribution this way. At the beginning of the week, after broadcasting on air, the CBC released Canada's Next Great Prime Minister through a torrent. You'll see the BITTORRENT reference and link right on the page. It took a while to link up but right at the moment I'm hitting download rates which are averaging about 140 kB/s.

You'd think as the content would be primarily shared by people on the few broadband carriers in Canada, it'd be a breeze. Most probably Telus started 'shaping' my packets as soon it appeared I was running a torrent. I'm estimating that it'll take half again as long to get hold of the show than actually watch it. The promise of digital is that it be faster than analog. I commend CBC but this will never become a replacement for traditional distribution until we have much more bandwidth with no throttling by Internet providers.

Labels: Canada, Internet, sharing, television

I'm beginning to understand. It wasn't until I got an mp3 player that I discovered podcasting and how it shifts the whole paradigm of radio. Summarily, a few days ago, I downloaded free TVersity software and I'm beginning to understand the future of television and video.



TVersity allows media to be streamed to my Sony PlayStation 3 via the home network. I first thought it'd be useful as I could listen to any of 8000+ music files through my home theatre system. I'd need not load them via my computer anymore. Of course, also being able to read thousands of personal photo archives off my external drive and display them on the larger, living room Toshiba screen promised to be fun too.

I had never seriously considered video podcasting as promising technology. After all, I'd not want to watch the tiny screen of a portable device, I thought. Now, I realize how useful Internet delivery of broadcasting may eventually become. With a Canadian Internet provider, it's not possible to watch U.S. television over IP. The networks block access. I'm especially disappointed in not being able to participate in www.hulu.com. However, the Internet is going to be a major means of delivery sooner than some might believe. A dozen years ago it was best practice not to create a web page that had over 50K of photos and text. Then, when radio first started arriving by IP, I wondered if we'd ever have sufficient bandwidth for such an extravagance.

I find it a little ironic that I'm enamoured by high definition content via satellite or Blu-ray but that I'm still so willing to watch grainy video on the 42" LCD. This playing around seems so refreshingly pioneering though. Yesterday, being able to watch live television from Sri Lanka was magic, although the teledrama was little better than a slide show of blurry images on the big screen.

I had been very skeptical of those who dismiss the importance of new high-definition discs. These people have written that Blue-ray's lifetime will be limited as the last physical medium. Their proclamation about the immediate future being in downloads seemed so pie-in-the-sky. Haven't those pundits witnessed how much time it takes just to download a movie trailer? I do admit I felt more than a little thrilled when throwing video around the network though. Demand will guarantee broad enough broadband. I'm a reluctant convert.

Labels: Internet, podcasts, PS3, technology, television

For how many years have we now had email? It hasn't been all that many but the impact can certainly still be strong.

I'm not so much thinking of work-related messages, but those that come in from the Internet from people who were from former aspects one's life. Once in a while, along with those automated reminders that my credit card statement is online or other official-type business, I get real email. Again, most of the crap received from my sister wouldn't count as it contains no new information. Hers tend to be those pass-it-along messages of a supposedly profound nature.



I am trying to highlight the times when a real message comes that provides interesting information from a friend or acquaintance. I got one just this morning from a school pal. Candy, on the left in the photo, started schooling with me when we were in elementary grades. We continued right through high school and eventually both received teaching certificates from the same college. I hadn't heard from her for years but it was easy to catch up. How interesting to hear about the family and their goings on. How great to hear about recent vacations too. Here's a quote that might not be too common in any messages you received today.

"A 100 x 25 foot barn addition of ours collapsed under the heavy snows and ice. Four cows were trapped, but with help managed to escape and are now healing."

I'd not mind getting more messages from others. Even if they're sent out in bulk and have the type of information that yearly Christmas newsletters used to contain. Go ahead, drop me a line.

Labels: Internet, Sunapee

Although it was more than two weeks ago when we were in Puerto Vallarta, it's still possible to try to check in via this web cam image below. This picture should be less than ten seconds old. I found access to it at www.puertovallarta.net. The cam's image, of course, will not show much if you check this page during hours that don't match up well to Central Time in the Americas. If you tune in too late, I shall include a smaller, static example to the right.



In the late 1990's I had one set up on the balcony with an old Sony camcorder. It used to look down the Fraser River towards the New Westminster Quay and the Alex Fraser Bridge.

Labels: Internet, Mexico, webcam

High definition TV is delicious. For months and months my only hint of what it really looks like is through the high-def satellite channels of Bell ExpressVu.

My up-converting DVD player can provide a picture which is marginally better than standard TV, but it sure ain't the real McCoy. I've commented with disgust on the annoying format war for true high-definition discs. This week, that battle has apparently ended with Sony's Blu-ray as the victor. The competitor, Toshiba has officially thrown in the proverbial towel. I'll settle for this scenario as long as it means an increasingly quick proliferation of mainstream HD.

The problem presently preventing widespread adoption is cost. The cheapest Blu-ray player is going for around $399 at local electronics suppliers. Many of these players are not even very future-proof as they do not provide the Net access necessary to implement BD Live (Profile 2.0). In fact just about the only safe bet if one were purchasing today would be to go with a Sony PlayStation 3. It has built in wireless and a hard drive.

For the same $399 one can have a machine with a lot more flexibility than a stand-alone Blu-ray player. Putting a Blu-ray disc in the gaming console was considered unwise and costly when the PS3 first shipped. Now however, it appears as if it was the Trojan horse that stealthily helped push Sony's HD format to victory.

I might be convinced to go purchase a new PlayStation 3 this weekend, but production has stopped on the higher end, 80 GB $499 model. I must wait until the new unit shows up as it may have 120 or 160 GB for the same price. People can only speculate on the configuration as Sony is notoriously tight-lipped about unrealeased products.

Labels: games, HDTV, Internet, PS3, television

Tax season is officially here. In Canada the main form from the employer must arrive by the end of February. It's called a T4 slip. In the past, I'd always waited until that form arrived in my mailbox before going out to buy QuickTax, the software that allows individuals to prepare their own tax returns. It's pretty straight-forward and the software helps one get the details correct. I especially like the ability to play with what/if scenarios.

I cannot remember exactly, but I'd say that I've been filing directly from my computer for at least four or five years. Actually, I really can't recall when I last drove to drop off a printed form in the Surrey office of Revenue Canada. Any owed tax or rebates are all done through electronic banking too.

This year, though, was the first time I could view my own T4 statement directly from BCIT web services. So as to be less paper dependent, and of course more environmentally friendly, I think I'll forgo purchasing the software on CD in a box this year. If I download the program, then I will help to continue the trend toward paperless taxes.

Labels: government, Internet, software

Of course I really can't imagine a world before television. I grew up with American TV. Actually, by the time I was born, broadcasting was well over a decade old. I saw statistics which stated there were a million televisions in US homes in 1948 and I was born in 1959. I don't really know at what point sets became a standard fare in nearly every home. I know people first used to gather at certain establishments to view. When I was growing up we used to sometimes eat lunch or dinner at The Pine's Restaurant in Guild, New Hampshire. I remember them getting the first colour set that I'd seen. I recall hearing the owners bought one of the first B&W models in the area. So from the end of the 40's to my childhood in the 60's, there'd already been quite a lot of programming.

I've been watching a special series on PBS. I've seen at least three of the episodes of Pioneers of Television. An invention can change the world a lot in ten years.

Likewise, I just sent off an email message to my class. Due to the fact that upon registration all students receive an institutional email address, I can, with confidence, send any last minute notices. This feature works in conjunction with a course web page specifically for each class I teach. Consequently, I can press a single button and be assured that each student gets the information in their inbox. Although I just got a 10-year pin for my work at BCIT, using the Internet to this extent wasn't possible back in 1997/98. The way we operate can change greatly in one decade!



Here's a message I sent earlier this morning:

I'm sure you know that BCIT campuses are closed this morning. The weather forecast suggests that it will get warmer this afternoon, but due to transit trouble, I'm sure it will be reasonable to cancel our afternoon class.

Because we have very little time in the Intensive classes, we must make up the four hours we'll miss today.

We will meet on Friday afternoon this week. Please arrange your schedule so that we can complete all the work necessary in COMM 0004.

(I have added the next Message Board topic to our course page. You may want to take the time to ensure all of them are completed today!)

Labels: BCIT, Internet, television

There's hardly a thing I truly desire that I don't already have. And certainly my time is more important to me than the few dollars saved at a Boxing Day sale. So I have no bargains to crow about in the blog today.

I did think it was interesting that on our trip to Seattle, for the first time, I noted WiFi signs at the rest stops on Interstate 5. I believe there are three in each direction between the border and the city.



Now, as well as a trip to the restroom, it's possible to check out the winter pass information for free. The whole web is not actually free but the following sites are provided gratis:

WS DOT Home

Traveler Information (cameras)

Travel Alerts and Slowdowns

Construction Updates

Weather

Mountain Passes

Accountability

Washington Tourism

Access is made available through a private company closely connected with www.coachconnect.net, so it is possible to buy time with a credit card. It is well designed for the RV crowd at $30/month and at the present a $2.95 tariff for 15-minute access would be useful for emergency email. Bear in mind, often these rest stops may be miles and miles from an exit.

Labels: Internet, road trip, Seattle

I captured a 1:45 minute, HiFiHDTV.ca promo from my Bell ExpressVu receiver. I was going to upload it to YouTube and then place it here. Of course, it wouldn't have really been in high definition but it may have given you a taste of those four, Canadian channels. The clip was amazing enough to give me actual chills when it was playing with DD5.1 in my living room. Unfortunately, I read the notice on YouTube and remembered that the promo was not really mine to upload. Copyright is going to have to change to deal with the potential of new technologies. I could email a copy to any reader upon request but it's 95 MB. Damn, the Internet really isn't keeping up with the demands I'd like to make on it nowadays.

Oasis, Treasure, Rush and Equator HD just loop pretty much the same programming but new titles enter the mix so that I always seem to find stuff weekly to record on the PVR. Plus, regular, commercial shows, this week excepted, keep my slated time for television pretty full. There really is a lot of quality out there. I don't think programs have ever been as smart, socially responsible, or engaging as they are now.

I'm writing this today as we've been watching true HD television for just over one year now. I cannot imagine the pale imitation that standard broadcasts offer. I honestly don't think I'd bother with TV, if I had to go back. Just about the only show watched in that tired, old format is CTV News from Vancouver. Come on folks! We're a big enough market to merit at least HD in the studio! I think the station can even afford the extra makeup that'll be required to get Bill Good and Pamela Martin ready for high definition!

Labels: HDTV, Internet, television

Frankly, I never saw much need for using peer-to-peer downloading.

Firstly, I cannot think why I really would need to spend a whole day downloading the copy of a poor-quality movie from a far corner of the world. After all, I subsribe to an all-you-can-eat DVD subscription via regular mail. That gives me the original 8-gig discs with all the extras. Secondly, I've got a large enough collection of music already in .mp3 or .wma format and generally find myself not having enough time to even listen to the podcasts which I aggregate for my little Zen. It'd hardly be worth my effort trying to find a whole album at a good bitrate with files following my naming conventions. It just does not seem worth it.

Knowing that I am not up to date with the technology finally forced to download BitComet. I can certainly appreciate the concept of using torrents. It'd surely be of benefit to organizations with sizeable amounts of data for distribution. I suppose when I have some extra time, I'll probably have to set up a torrent. What shall I share?

Labels: Internet, sharing

Things still seem fairly hectic. There are assignments and exams in my briefcase which need to be corrected, even as I type. I cannot even keep up with the programs on the satellite PVR. High definition programming takes up a lot of space on the hard drive. Now, nearly everything worth watching is broadcast in HD.

This is a little ironic as I had an email from a former colleague in Dubai. She asked whether I was still running Psiphon on my computer. It seems that some television that they watch must come via P2P sites.



The United Arab Emirates blocks Internet sites. Locally this is supposedly a way to protect citizens. In reality, of course, it's just a clever means of preventing 'freedom of speech'and the unfettered flow of ideas that may be contradictory to those who hold illegitimate power. Condoning censorship of any sort is a political means to keep others subservient. It happens in all sorts of places, of course. But P2P sites? I bet the greedy national telcom company is more interested in trying to preserve bandwidth than stopping porn.

Anyway, I seem to have forgotten the password to my wireless router and I'm sure I need to open port 443 on it. The thing is, I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to get it up and running. There are too many hours of TV to see first.

Labels: Dubai, Internet, opinions

It's already a part of popular culture. Last night CSI:NY included a plot featuring Second Life. I'm not a game player and as proof I have an original X-BOX that's sitting in the closet after being played less than a dozen hours.

Okay, they say this online experience is not really a game. I say it's a little freaky. Still, I think one owes it to oneself to keep up on what's current. I don't know how many people my age can be found running around the virtual worlds but if you happen to run across a Wendell Latte, do say hello to me.

Labels: games, Internet

I feel very sad that nobody I know, Twitters.
I was born way too early, I guess.

Labels: Internet, sharing, software

Until very recently, I thought of the Internet as predominately textual on www sites. If you recall the Internet protocol meaning of gopher, raise your right hand and repeat the following: "I am very old and have always been pretty geeky."

That's imprecise. Let me clarify; I generally considered the Internet as text and image based. Okay, sure. I would've admitted that one needed computer speakers because some Flash animation contained sound, occasionally one might want to steam an audio file, or other folks might even want to listen to illegally-downloaded music files.

Now, I think of this net as a delivery medium for stored audio too. I've already said in this blog that buying (several) mp3 players has thrust me into an exciting new world of information. Discovering Internet podcasts is my most profound personal development related to computers this year. Now, I don't feel like I'm wasting precious moments when walking or driving. Those ear buds are not relaying the Top 40; rather, I'm gaining understanding on a world of new topics. Listen to the 5:12 minute audio clip by clicking the next line.

St Mary's Square, Munich, Germany

In about 25 hours our plane will be leaving the tarmac for this initial destination of this year's fall trip. I can copy a number of audio files into my Zen Stone and take them along. The device weighs less than a toothbrush.

Although I found a number of companies trying to make a commercial success of mp3 travel guides, I expect that fairly soon, it will be simple to find free audio help on getting around in many of the globe's tourist sites. How about suggested walk-abouts in famous museums without needing official guides? Why not have audio files explaining the best route around a city's parks? What about an informative stroll though any neighbourhood in most any town?

Let me access these freely through the Internet. Bring on the noise!

Labels: Creative Zen, Eurotrip 2007, Internet, podcasts

Yesterday, I praised the Internet for increasing my abilities for travel planning. Now, however, I'm worried that its ease of use is poised to make Jay and I less spontaneous travellers.

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Internet, travel planning

How come it doesn't seem like science fiction?

If you'd told me, when I first went overseas in 1981, that in a bit more than 25 years, I'd be able to sit in my underwear at a flat screen in my living room and plan a vacation with a mouse, I'd have probably thought you were nuts. Maybe that's because I wouldn't have been able to picture myself as a 48 year old or collaborating with a mouse. Moreover, I'm pretty sure I would not have understood about connections to multiple websites that can contain more information than travel brochures could've ever aspired to.



I am fairly confident that I would also not have been able to fathom reserving hotel rooms at the YMCA or buying bus tickets simply by typing a Mastercard number. We just did a bit of clicking for 15-day Euroline bus passes that'll begin later this month. Although the whole trip will last three weeks, we were able to squeeze a majority of the longer hauls into that time frame. We will purchase shorter segments like Munich to Salzburg and Zurich to Munich as single tickets from there.

How'd we ever get by without the Internet?

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Internet, travel planning

If you'd asked me a couple of months ago about audio on the Internet, I would've only been able to talk about streaming. That's been going on for more than a dozen years. I can remember trying to get adequate RealPLayer connections from my desktop at Dubai Men's College when the Internet first arrived in the UAE. Now, streaming is pretty old hat although I seldom spent much time listening. I've even offered the following .ra files from my website for at least a decade. [Editor's Note: These have now been converted to mp3 but suffer from poor quality of the original and coversion processes.]

MP3 AUDIO

---

Radio Archive 1994 - Dubai FM, United Arab Emirates
Educationally Yours.  The HCT BBS: Mike Friganiotis, Moh'd Al-Shamsi, and of course, me (30:06 minutes)

Radio Archive 1995 - Dubai FM, United Arab Emirates
Educationally Yours.  The Internet: Mike Friganiotis, Tonia Huculak, and me (25:39 minutes)

---

Things have changed though. I've only gotten interested in the concept of podcasting since buying my little 4GB Creative Zen Plus. (Incidentally, my RMA'd original unit really was dead and Creative is in the midst of shipping back a replacement by UPS. Meanwhile, I'm listening to a 2GB Zen Stone Plus.)



Podcasting is so cool. I like being able to walk out of the house with hours of radio which I've chosen to take along. I never use the FM tuner in the Zen. People may not know how easy it can be with aggregator software. Most of my friends probably know nothing about RSS feeds. It's simply a universal method to automate new Internet content so that it can be easily shared.

The image above is software that I use to collect my audio postcast episodes. Rather than getting involved in Apple's iTunes, I simply enter the rss feed into the ZENcast Organizer. It automatically updates all programs I've selected for download. Some programs might be daily while others weekly or monthly. It doesn't matter because as soon as a new show is released, it is waiting for me on my computer. I can listen on the PC or simply press a button to have the files copied to my Creative Zen.

It might take some looking around on the net to FIND the feeds but as soon as they're subscribed to, it becomes effortless. There are things from literally all over the globe. I favour technology over the news, and podcasting allows me to chose exactly what goes into my ears.

Labels: BBS, Creative Zen, Dubai, file archives, Internet, Mediaplayer, podcasts

There's no place like home. Google seldom stops developing and refining!

Labels: Google, Internet, New Westminster

I'm sitting here this morning trying to decide on a topic for today's entry. Once in a while it seems like a burden to put something on this page. On the other hand, I'm often awed by the fact I have a space to share whatever I wish. I can add a photo, an audio clip, or text. I've said it before and realize there's little chance in hell of it happening; however, I could begin writing poetry or a scholarly thesis right here.

I don't think the average person is going to get smarter because of the Internet but that possibility exists, doesn't it? In a fewer than 15 years, global connectivity has gone from near public obscurity to being considered boringly familiar.

If one has a desire to broaden one's horizons, then an avenue is available. Today, as a society and individuals we need to learn how to ask more questions. As I was poking around finding resources for yesterday's entry, I discovered new things. I was looking up references to a particular style of Sri Lankan music and found that the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation now streams several feeds. I did not expect to learn that radio was first broadcast in Asia from Colombo. Without access to the Internet I'd never have read of a Mr. Edward Harper, especially as it was a weekend. Information is now not locked in a specific location accessible to a few at specific times. It's easy to find voices from the opposite side of the earth.

Labels: Internet, opinions

Today is just for maintenance and to show you how my progress for organizing this blog is getting along. The labels listing continues to change and develop. I shouldn't think that that will stop at this point. So, today's lisiting is just sort of a work in progress. As well as giving you an idea of how I'm beginning to organize old entries, putting the list here will give the search engines a chance to find all the new blog pages.

[THESE LABELS ARE IN EFFECT OF THIS DATE. THEY MAY BE CHANGED OR ELIMINATED IN THE FUTURE.]

Feel free to click any of the following. But get 'em while they're hot because supplies may be limited.

Alaska (6), Alberta (12), analog (8), Bahrain (20), balcony (23), BBS (7), BC Ferries (12), BCIT (115), blogging (45), Bret (30), briefcase (6), camera (62), Canada Day (7), cars (16), Christmas (39), complaints (20), computer lab (16), computers (78), Creative Zen (6), credit card (4), cruise (16), Daily Picture Parade (13), dentist (5), Don (21), driving (9), Dubai (28), errands (19), Eurotrip 2005 (25), Eurotrip 2007 (4), file archives (16), fireworks (6), Flickr (97), flora and fauna (22), flying (12), food (41), Fraser River (16), games (8), glasses (6), Google Earth (7), government (23), GPS (23), hamster (3), hard disk (3), Hawaii (3), Hayack (5), HDTV (10), Hollywood (4), Hong Kong (7), humour (7), India (12), Joel (33), Kuwait (11), labelss (5), Laurie (8), library (9), lists (23), London (1), Los Angeles (12), maintenance (14), Mediaplayer (3), money (20), mother (4), movies (77), music (26), musical (9), Nepal (4), New Hampshire (65), New Westminster (104), New York City (11), Newfoundland (3), Niagara Falls (2), Okanagan (13), opinions (56), parade (2), Paris (1), passport (1), Persian (1), pets (21), pig (2), places (91), podcasts (9), Portland (6), PVR (5), Quay (19), Ranger (14), relaxing (12), review (2), Royal City Mall (1), San Francisco (10), Saudi Arabia (29), sci-fi (4), sharing (12), SkyTrain (4), Sound of Music (1), Sri Lanka 2004 (61), Sri Lanka 2006 (34), staff (2), Stanley Park (4), stars (9), students (11), Surrey (8), technology (31), telephone (5), television (56), temple (28), Thailand (3), The Wizard of Oz (2), Tim (19), topcasts (3), transit (29), travel planning (26), Turkey (2), UAE (23), vacation planning (4), Vancouver (30), Vancouver Island (13), voice recording (2), Warner Bros (3), weather (59), weight loss (5), Windows (24), world (21), World Vision (11), X Minus One (3), YouTube (11)

Labels: Internet, labels, lists

Since the very first days spent exploring the Internet, I was convinced of its usefulness for travel planning. In fact, some of the initial class projects in the 1990's were geographically organized. It was a real thrill to spin the hard disk of a server in a county a half a world away. Tourist boards were some of the first non-academic sites online.

Now, travel planning on the Net is less of a novelty and more of a necessity. A good guidebook might be useful during the trip but a lot of pre-trip exploration occurs right in one's living room. The actual reservations and purchases can be done from the same chair. While in most every way this is a blessing, it can lead to less spontaneity on the road. I used to be happier letting the wind take me as it might. Now, I can learn almost too much.



For example, we spent the better part of the morning at the schedule for Euroline Bus passes. The timings don't easily fit exactly what we want to do in the fall. We ended up playing what-if scenario after scenario. In the good old days, I was happy enough to set the initial segment and then let fate take care of the rest.

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Internet, travel planning

I always thought the term, surfing the Internet, was slightly annoying. To me, it sounded like a techno-peasant who really didn't know much about the world wide web . . . talking about other people who did. (When I was half done with the sentence above, I decided to look up the phrase to see who coined it. Take a look at this video created by the San Francisco CBS affiliate. It was broadcast earlier this month, no less!)

Now, I've changed my mind. Thank you, Jean Armour Polly, for writing that back in 1992. It does better describe how I used to spend my browser time. It used to be a thrill to find new information. I witnessed websites develop company-by-company and organization-by-organization. It was once a treasure just to find a familiar, old name with a new web presence. I'm talking about a time when Yahoo was a list maintained by hand!

Now I fear, I generally skulk around the same old haunts and usually stay within the first dozen hits of a Google search. The surfing has become more of a laboured stroll through a now-familiar mall.



I did see advertisements for the new web portal for for Canadian government Internet resources. I visited www.ServiceCanada.ca and found myself doing a lot of exploring by clicking various links. Of course, the federal government has a copious amount of data on the Net. Organizing such a deluge of information and making it available from one location seems a worthy, although difficult, goal.

Labels: Canada, Google, government, Internet

There wasn't an Internet for the masses until the early 90's. I worked back in the Persian Gulf at the time. So, I really only witnessed the beginning of country-wide Internet blocking. I've stated my opinions on the subject in the past.

So, I don't know whether it's that experience or my natural Robinhood tendencies but I am very intreagued by the following organization and software. Click the text image to go the website. I've already downloaded it. It's running. If you're in China, Iran, or the Gulf and want to use me to see the whole Internet, just send an email note!

Labels: Internet

Even if you've not yet upgraded to Internet Explorer 7, it'll happen automatically through Windows Update this month. It may take you a while to get used to tabbed browsing but here's some added functionality you can install today.

The IE7 search bar defaults to MSN search but you can choose and install dozens of alternatives. Google will probably, at some point, attempt to gain control too. I'd like to suggest you add another important source of information. With over three years of entries, this blog can be a interesting resource. I bet you most likely wonder several times a day if Dennis has written about a particular subject. Now there's a method to quickly and easily find out.


HOW TO ADD THIS BLOG TO INTERNET EXPLORER 7 SEARCHES

1) Open the Microsoft search guide.

2) On the search guide, locate the form as shown to the right.

3) Proceed to cut and paste the following URL:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=TEST&sp-a=sp1002b391&sp-p=all&sp-f=ISO-8859-1

4) Specify my eJournal and images as the name.

5) Click install.

Labels: Internet, Windows

The Internet has everything, or so I thought. I'd never before been able to come up with a topic on which I couldn't find copious amounts of information.

I was recently admiring satellite views of the world through Google Earth. Back when personal computers were new and I worked overseas, I used to collect pirated software. In the Gulf, in the eighties, there were no avenues to purchase authentic copies. I was reminded of a very early program I once used. A company called BlueSky Software once created IBM-compatible software called PC Globe.

I came up nearly empty on the Internet. I only discovered a bit about the company and the titles they produced but very little about when the specific piece of software in question was released. What I really want to see is a view of the, then state-of-the-art, CGA graphics that it boasted. Suddenly I remembered, I could double check on PC Globe by looking at my Software Games from 1989 pdf. Unfortunately, the 5 1/4 inch bendable floppy disc I was thinking about is not listed there at all.

It's a bit sad to think that something created within the last twenty years can vanish so completely. This is especially poignant as computers are what the Internet is all about. I've been unsuccessful in my search. Please drop me a line if you know anything about BlueSky's PC Globe. I volunteer to be a resource and will even write up an entry for Wikipedia!



Today, it's possible to even zoom in on the very neighbourhood where I grew up. I'm 5,000 kilometers from that location and maybe that adds to the romanticism of being able to look where my feet trod over 45 years ago.

Labels: computers, games, Google, Internet, New Hampshire, software

Yesterday, I downloaded the release candidate of Windows Vista. Why not? This is the fun part of computer ownership as far as I'm concerned. If I didn't like the thrill of taking things apart and tweaking them, I'd probably run the Mac OS. This action has caused me to consider how computer software is changing.



Once upon a time, a web browser was just for displaying static information and images. As proof of new directions, just a few days ago Flickr mashed up with Yahoo maps. How fun to drop my personal photos onto a world map! Although a small but exciting improvement, it really highlights the significant changes taking place. One of the versions of the upcoming Windows Vista boasts an improved way of organizing digital images. I'm sorry, but with the likes of Flickr that is already an outdated paradyme. Those functions are arriving at my operating system too late.

Why would I want to organize on my own machine, when I can upload and organize my collection on the Internet? The hot, live implementation means I can access my images wherever I roam. The idea is nice to be able to locate a specific photo from a group of thousands. That is something that an operating system could do. Yet, that is something that Flickr is already doing better for I can link the data to a web page or through email. The PC hasn't been a lone device for many years now.

This is the frightening thing for Microsoft and other traditional software producers. In the future, I will assuredly be buying fewer boxes of shrink-wrapped software to operate on my own CPU. Rather, I will find myself storing and manipulating my data within Web 2.0 applications. This gigantic shift in focus means that Windows Vista may well be the last important operating system upgrade from Redmond. And there's one thing you must know in order to fully appreciate the depth of my viewpoint: I've always loved Microsoft!

Labels: Internet, opinions, software, technology, Windows

A crowded Kuwaiti souk in the evening. - 1982


In case of an apartment flood, copies of my pictures will get soggy and I'm not so sure what'll happen when the big one (earthquake) hits California. I'm trying to say that I uploaded a few more pictures from paper to Flickr's data-centers. I wish I had organized and kept the tons of negatives I shot over the years. Trying to coax a suitable image off 25-year-old, yellowing paper is not always easy.

Every so often I upload a few fragments of my image past to An Old Box in the e-Attic. It's more than convenient to have a representative collection online. Wherever I am, as long as there's an Internet connection, I will have my photo albums with me. Quick! How quickly can you locate a photo of your grandmother? I can do so in seconds.

As I briefly mentioned yesterday, photos are best when shared. After all, you are reading something called, my eJournal and images. Honestly, what good is a photo album if the cover's never cracked open? The whole concept of sharing took on added meaning yesterday. In the evening, I scanned and uploaded eight more photos from Kuwait. I lived in that country from 1981 to 1983 as I was hired for my very first teaching job. I don't have many high-quality pictures from that era. I must have owned a very cheap camera at the time.

The resulting images may not have been stunning but they certainly did attract attention. In fact, I had an email waiting when I woke up. That is considerably different than when I worked there. It used to take two weeks for a postal letter to get to the US and another two for the return trip. Telephone calls used to cost a fortune. Going overseas was a much greater commitment than nowadays.

Now that nearly a quarter of a century has passed, my old photos have become valuable to others as well as me. Most people like looking at their past. The country has undoubtedly changed. There was even a war and all. People yearn to remember a time which seems simpler. My photos were re-posted on a Kuwaiti message board. Imagine that! And I didn't know that Google was working on Arabic to English translation.

Labels: camera, Internet

I am so organized that it's frightening. My body must've known that I wasn't going to teach this week; therefore, it scheduled a little down time. I've been lounging around since Tuesday afternoon feeling rather unhealthy. Cuddled under a blanket on the couch with a gas fire roaring isn't really the way I expected to spend my time. Yet, I suppose I'm lucky. It sure wouldn't have been fun trying to go to class. I'm sure I'll be as fit as a fiddle by next Monday.

I haven't had much gumption. Even sitting at the computer is a struggle. I did have time, though, to get back on orkut.



I first talked about social networking websites about two years ago, but for some reason I never actively pursued that curiosity. I like the concept. You have to be invited by a friend to join meaning that you have at least one connection to the community. In fact by connecting to an existing member all of their connections become part of your network. There are only a few degrees of separation between me any of the 21 million members connected through three contacts. It's like the adult equivalent of starting a tree-house club.

Unfortunately the sum total of interest among my real-world friends, is somewhere between zero and nil. In fact, I don't fit into the demographic well either. The average orkut user is between 18 and 25, single, and from Brazil.

Labels: complaints, Internet

I think it's important for me to have a presence on the Internet. As well as letting me maintain some resume information, I can express thoughts that I'd never do if it weren't for a blog. One other important benefit of being online is that it allows long-lost acquaintances to find me.

I got a nice message from a former BCIT student yesterday. It included these paragraphs and went on to express personal information and more about the recent difficulties in Indonesia.

---

Hi Dennis, how are you doin? It's been almost 3 years since you taught me.. My name is Guntur Herianto, hopefully you can still remember me.. well if not then maybe you should check your 2003 summer student pics...

I already went back to Indonesia 2 years ago.. here nobody speaks in English, very little people write in English.. That is so sad, in fact I've lost 80% of my capability in speaking and writing skills. I'm working as a Radio DJ at my home town now. The radio called ISTARA FM. You could check the website though if you feel interested.

Well, the reason why I contacted you is simply I miss Canada, I miss Vancouver, I miss Burnaby, I miss BCIT and most of all I miss friends and you...

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I feel extremely lucky to have my teaching job. Often it's easy to merely focus on one's current situation. I need to remember the big picture. Being able to positively affect people is a frighteningly-powerful gift.

Labels: BCIT, Internet, students